Blog Post # 4

Marxism

Marxism can be described as the belief that the struggle between social classes is due to history and that there should be a society in which there are no classes. In marxism it theorizes that everything is shaped by the economic system of a society and this affects the ideas individuals have. According to Karl Marx this is something that was created by the people and can be changed by the people as well.There is false conscious that exists which is the idea that whatever the dominant group says is right. There are those who rule and those whom follow and this should not exist. Alienation is a consciousness that takes the form of ideology and dominants their consciousness. Marxism makes it clear that there is a spread of false consciousness by the mass media and this is what leads them to believe only in what it is said to be right. Ideology is something that has you, and appear to be unconscious. Someone can be shaped by ideology and not even notice it. 

Marxism criticism in media can be done without even realizing it or thinking about it too much. It is clear when in media whether it is in a movie, tv show, book, magazine, cartoon, etc., who is the dominant group and who is the group without power. Who is the group that is wealthy and those who are not wealthy and media does this with a purpose to use ideology with their viewers. While watching a movie, media does things that appear to be normal because that is what they make us, the viewers, believe so unconsciously. If in a movie there could be a character who is handsome and no matter what is wearing a suite, and we believe that this is normal because of the dominant position he holds but in reality this is not real. When criticizing media from a marxists view it is transparent when hegemony exists, that is when there's a dominant group ideology over others in other groups. Something that media also does is for example when watching news there might be a case where the status quo is being challenged and it is described as something abnormal there is always a reason for this. When mass media has you watching or catching your attention it is important to look at things from a marxism perspective and notice how society is being describes as.